Project information

Helping Homeless People over 55 winter 2016/17

Provide help to homeless people over 55 this winter. Meet needs of a warm welcome, showers & toilet facilities, laundry & clothing store, cooked meals, tea, coffee and soft drinks. Through health, education and employment advice, housing and assistance with sorting out finances and welfare right

Charity information: The Passage

Need

Many people become homeless in Westminster each year. Not only local people but others from further a field in poverty travelling to London to find work. The Passage helps 3,000 homeless individuals each year. Each person requires a different package of help to move forward and away from sleeping on the street. Some realise their mistake coming to London and need help to return home. Others need help to find work and accommodation. Those in greatest need require support with health issues.

Solution

The Passage runs an outreach service every day of the year contacting those in need living on the street. Those needing to return to other areas are assisted and found help in their home area. For those with us for longer, our resource centre meets basic needs of a warm welcome, showers & toilet facilities, laundry and clothing store, cooked meals, tea, coffee and soft drinks. Through health, education and employment, housing and advice services people move permanently from the street.

Aim 1

Provide a warm welcome in our centre every day

Activities

» Open the centre every day. Provide a personal greeting to each visitor and a private one to one discussion with all new visitors to establish needs. » Provide shower and toilet facilities with towels, toiletries, razors, etc. Provide a laundry service so that all users can get their clothes washed. » Provide a clothing store to make good second hand or new clothes available for free to those with no money or at a nominal price for those on benefit. » Provide cooked breakfast, tea, coffee, soft drinks and a cooked lunch. Ensure service of nutritious food and provide a vegetarian option.

By welcoming 250 homeless people aged over 55 years old to the centre over the winter months.

Aim 2

Provide for client health needs

Activities

» Provide health care in partnership with the NHS through a nurse practitioner Monday to Friday, GP, podiatrist, optician & mental health counsellor. » Provide mental health support to those who need it through advice and initial counselling by three specialist workers and an art therapist. » Assist those with substance misuse issues through advice and initial counselling by two specialist workers. » Provide alternative therapies of homeopathy, aromatherapy, reflexology, acupuncture and meditation.

By giving mental health support to 50 individuals, support around substance misuse to 40 individuals and physical health care to 125 people.

Aim 3

Assist people to manage their money and find work or training

Activities

» Provide welfare rights advice particularly focused on welfare to work and help people without bank accounts to open an account. Provide advice on debt » Provide drop in computer access with IT based computer training ranging from IT skills to health & safety for construction industry employment. » Assist clients to write their CVs, perform job search, apply for jobs and improve their job interview techniques. » Provide support for those moving into employment, including, paying for initial accommodation, travel to work costs, clothing and individual mentoring

Help 10 people back to work.

Aim 4

Provide advice and support in seeking accommodation including returning home.

Activities

» Assess clients’ needs in depth and discuss the options open to them and advise them on realistic possibilities. » Assist clients who wish to return to their home areas to find help, support and accommodation away from London. » Where clients qualify assist them to find social housing or supported hostel accommodation as appropriate. » Help other clients to find private rented accommodation assist with moving in and seeking sources of funds for deposits, grants for furniture, etc.

Help 125 people return to help and support away from the London area and help 125 people to find accommodation in London

Aim 5

Ensure that those helped feel fully consulted on the services and empowered

Activities

» Hold regular client forums to gather feedback and act on those views » Recruit clients who are not yet ready for work as volunteers to help run the service.

Through the consultation forums held and follow up on feedback. Through involving 2 older clients in running the service.

Impact

We will have helped people to return to a more settled way of life dealing with their needs whatever those are. We will know the people by name and will know from our involvement in street outreach partnerships if they return to the street. Through our ongoing support project Home for Good we will keep in contact with many whom we help and will know their story in detail.

Risk

Peoples needs vary from time to time. If the mixture of people we help have on average higher support needs that will reduce the number we can help. Welfare benefit changes is making the work more difficult but we are increasing the capacity of our welfare benefits advice team. Our government grants are reduced each year in line with public expenditure cuts. So far we have increased voluntary income each year in order to maintain services and we have a five year plan to continue this trend.

Reporting

We will produce comprehensive feedback through our website plus email newsletters. We distribute an annual impact report showing our results for the year each summer.

Beneficiaries

Why Us?

We have 36 years of experience in this work. We have developed a comprehensive set of services to meet the varied and complex needs of rough sleepers in Central London and we have a proven track record of success.